Rowe
First Post
I saw a scenario on TV many years ago where a guy was lost in the desert. When all hope thought lost he stumbled upon a store he did not recognize. Long story short, the traveler stumbled into a pocket of reality that existed many years in the future. I'm adding this to my campaign. My characters wander into the desert after their airship crashes.
The convenience store visit.. The format was lost from the copy paste. Enjoy
. . . The adventures walk for days westward. Their rations and water supply grow slim. Just as the swelter of the sun and the freezing temperatures of the night are about to kill our adventurers, they see what appears to be a white brick building up a head. its unrecognizable in the mirage like haze of the desert heat.
No Perception Check reveals anything at this distance.
When the adventurers get within 100yards of the structure they can barely make out the shapes they see.
Within 25 yards they See a tall sign, a white brick building with a glass front, strange rectangle structures outside the building and what appears to be some form of animal resting near them.
DC <10: PC sees what is described above, can’t tell if structure is inhabited
DC 10-20: PC sees what is described above, and can make out numbers on the sign, and can see there are words in an unrecognizable language painted all over the front glass of the building.
DC 20>: PC sees what is described above and can tell that the animals are made of some sort of metal with round feet, and don’t appear to be breathing. Can pear through the class to see that there is a humanoid standing behind a counter. You recognize this place as some sort of store.
If the adventurers decide not to approach any further, they wander back off into the desert for another week with out a re supply in rations and water risking death.
The adventurers decide to approach the store. When they enter they are greeted by a dark colored human with black hair and a frown. He looks the group over, lets out a groaning sigh “How can I help you today sirs”.
Read this upon entering the store:
“Your group stumbles into the store; the cool air of the inside makes you dizzy as the stark contrast from the outside atmosphere dissipates as the door closes behind you. You see a short man behind the counter who stares at you complacently. You see shelves of packaged material you hope to be food, and glass doors line the walls with what appears to be bottles with strange liquid contained inside. There are racks with eye wear, small books, cartons and containers of things you do not recognize. Lanterns seem to be hung sideways from the ceilings, and the place is surprisingly bright.”
META: The store should be stocked with what you would normally find in a 21st century convenience store. To add a little comedic flavor, have the PC’s find hot food like hot dogs, and nachos, maybe racks that have dirty magazines. The coolers should be stocked with an assortment of modern drinks and alcohol. The middle isles should be filled with candies, beef jerky, and other food items, even an isle that has medicine unrecognizable to the player. The players should be able to read all labels on the items in the store, but not understand what the different names mean. I.E. they know water, and food, and can tell what beef jerky is, but Doritos, funions, starburst, sprite, mountain dew, and etc are lost onto the players. Once the clerk leaves the store the players can make a judgment call on whether they can ransack the place or take items and leave money on the counter
Store Clerk Level 1 Minion
Medium nat. humanoid XP 10
Name: Mr. Punjabi
Initiative: + 15 Sense Perception: + 0
HP: 5
Speed: 6 SPECIAL:
Weapon: N/A Shotgun.
AC: 10, All Stats: 10 2d6 + 5 damage.
Equipment: Plain Clothes, Wallet, +5 atk Vs. AC
Pen, and Set of keys.
Flavor: Mr. Punjabi appears to be apathetic to his surroundings. He hates his job and contemplates burning this store down every day. He only wishes to one day have enough money to be rid of this forsaken place. He feels like he is on the edge of sanity. This job is driving him nuts. META: if the party consists of any race that doesn’t look like a human the NPC assumes they are in a strange costume or in a movie being shot close to there. The NPC should be RP’d with a Indian accent.
NPC: the NPC wants the PC’s to get what ever they need a leave. He will answer what ever questions they have to the best of his ability, but will become puzzled if the PC’s start asking questions about what this place is, where they are and what all these items are. If the players become hostile the NPC will react. See HOSTILE ACTION. If the players offer up gold for water and rations See DIPLOMATIC ACTION.
HOSTILE ACTION:
If the PC’s get to 10 points by doing the following Punjabi pulls a shotgun from underneath the counter cocks it. *which warns the PC’s that this weapon may mean serious danger*. The store clerk warns them that he means business and will not be robbed or taken advantage of. And asks the PC’s to leave. If provoked further * gets to 15 points* Punjabi will unload the shotgun on the nearest target first, and fire wildly until it is empty. If Punjabi escapes alive see Ending 2.
DIPLOMATIC ACTION:
If the PC’s get to -5 points on the aggression meter the clerk still thinks the PC’s are a little strange but is at ease wit them being in the store and leaves them to shop. If the PC’s are content with what they have found and pay for their items with silver see Ending 1a. If the players offer up a gold coin for their items the store clerk picks it off the counter and bites down on to it. Seeing that is authentic solid gold. See Ending 1
Table of Aggression
-1 PC’s walk around store with out saying anything -1 per round
-3 PC’s gather a large quantity of items
-5 PC’s make friendly small talk with Clerk. NPC can’t have a lower aggression meter unless * special condition is met.
*-10 Paying with silver coins, and leave the store. See Ending 1a
*-15 PC’s pay for their items with a gold coin. See Ending 1
+1 Speaking in any language but common in front of the clerk
+3 Getting within 1sqr of the clerk or behind the counter area
+5 Brandishing weapons, or displaying any magical powers
+10 Caught stealing, being overly aggressive towards the Clerk
+15 Attacking the Clerk, Destroying / Vandalizing the store.
Note: The NPC starts off at a 0 and is completely neutral to the strangers in the store regardless of what they look like.
NPC Encounter Endings
Ending 1:
The PC’s toss the clerk a gold coin for the items they want to purchase. The clerk bites down on to the gold piece and verifies its authenticity. Nervously the clerk exclaims “I’m rich! I quit this bitch; you guys can have what ever you like” and runs out of the store. The PC’s are shocked by his actions and watch as he runs out towards one of the metal beasts. It appears to the PC’s that a large blue metal beast grabs the Clerk with one of its arms and devours him, and they can see clerk inside the beasts as you hear it roar, and then take off into the distance. META * Punjabi runs out to his blue mini van, fires up the engine, and drives off petal to the floor*
Ending 1a:
The PC’s toss the clerk a handful of what the clerk thinks to be new silver dollars and accepts them apathetically. The clerk tells the PC’s to “have a nice day, please come again”. The PC’s leave the store and wander back into the desert.
Ending 2:
The player characters are dumb enough to start a fight inside this well needed oasis. The Clerk gets very wary of the visitors and if provoked enough will attack or flee the premise. Play this out how you see fit. If the clerk is provoked to attack with his shotgun he fires wildly at the players hitting the closest person first. If the clerk isn’t killed after he has unloaded all of his ammunition, he tries to escape. No further diplomacy can be performed at this point. If the NPC leaves the store and makes it to his Vehicle, describe this to the PC’s. It appears to the PC’s that a large blue metal beast grabs the Clerk with one of its arms and devours him, and they can see clerk inside the beasts as you hear it roar, and then take off into the distance. META * Punjabi runs out to his blue mini van, fires up the engine, and drives off petal to the floor*
Ending 2a: If you capture the Clerk, he passes out and is un revivable.
Moving On.
The players gather what they can carry, and head out back into the desert. If the players like they can rest for the night inside the store and are not bothered during the night if they lock the door. No other NPC’s will visit after the clerk has left.
The convenience store visit.. The format was lost from the copy paste. Enjoy
. . . The adventures walk for days westward. Their rations and water supply grow slim. Just as the swelter of the sun and the freezing temperatures of the night are about to kill our adventurers, they see what appears to be a white brick building up a head. its unrecognizable in the mirage like haze of the desert heat.
No Perception Check reveals anything at this distance.
When the adventurers get within 100yards of the structure they can barely make out the shapes they see.
Within 25 yards they See a tall sign, a white brick building with a glass front, strange rectangle structures outside the building and what appears to be some form of animal resting near them.
DC <10: PC sees what is described above, can’t tell if structure is inhabited
DC 10-20: PC sees what is described above, and can make out numbers on the sign, and can see there are words in an unrecognizable language painted all over the front glass of the building.
DC 20>: PC sees what is described above and can tell that the animals are made of some sort of metal with round feet, and don’t appear to be breathing. Can pear through the class to see that there is a humanoid standing behind a counter. You recognize this place as some sort of store.
If the adventurers decide not to approach any further, they wander back off into the desert for another week with out a re supply in rations and water risking death.
The adventurers decide to approach the store. When they enter they are greeted by a dark colored human with black hair and a frown. He looks the group over, lets out a groaning sigh “How can I help you today sirs”.
Read this upon entering the store:
“Your group stumbles into the store; the cool air of the inside makes you dizzy as the stark contrast from the outside atmosphere dissipates as the door closes behind you. You see a short man behind the counter who stares at you complacently. You see shelves of packaged material you hope to be food, and glass doors line the walls with what appears to be bottles with strange liquid contained inside. There are racks with eye wear, small books, cartons and containers of things you do not recognize. Lanterns seem to be hung sideways from the ceilings, and the place is surprisingly bright.”
META: The store should be stocked with what you would normally find in a 21st century convenience store. To add a little comedic flavor, have the PC’s find hot food like hot dogs, and nachos, maybe racks that have dirty magazines. The coolers should be stocked with an assortment of modern drinks and alcohol. The middle isles should be filled with candies, beef jerky, and other food items, even an isle that has medicine unrecognizable to the player. The players should be able to read all labels on the items in the store, but not understand what the different names mean. I.E. they know water, and food, and can tell what beef jerky is, but Doritos, funions, starburst, sprite, mountain dew, and etc are lost onto the players. Once the clerk leaves the store the players can make a judgment call on whether they can ransack the place or take items and leave money on the counter
Store Clerk Level 1 Minion
Medium nat. humanoid XP 10
Name: Mr. Punjabi
Initiative: + 15 Sense Perception: + 0
HP: 5
Speed: 6 SPECIAL:
Weapon: N/A Shotgun.
AC: 10, All Stats: 10 2d6 + 5 damage.
Equipment: Plain Clothes, Wallet, +5 atk Vs. AC
Pen, and Set of keys.
Flavor: Mr. Punjabi appears to be apathetic to his surroundings. He hates his job and contemplates burning this store down every day. He only wishes to one day have enough money to be rid of this forsaken place. He feels like he is on the edge of sanity. This job is driving him nuts. META: if the party consists of any race that doesn’t look like a human the NPC assumes they are in a strange costume or in a movie being shot close to there. The NPC should be RP’d with a Indian accent.
NPC: the NPC wants the PC’s to get what ever they need a leave. He will answer what ever questions they have to the best of his ability, but will become puzzled if the PC’s start asking questions about what this place is, where they are and what all these items are. If the players become hostile the NPC will react. See HOSTILE ACTION. If the players offer up gold for water and rations See DIPLOMATIC ACTION.
HOSTILE ACTION:
If the PC’s get to 10 points by doing the following Punjabi pulls a shotgun from underneath the counter cocks it. *which warns the PC’s that this weapon may mean serious danger*. The store clerk warns them that he means business and will not be robbed or taken advantage of. And asks the PC’s to leave. If provoked further * gets to 15 points* Punjabi will unload the shotgun on the nearest target first, and fire wildly until it is empty. If Punjabi escapes alive see Ending 2.
DIPLOMATIC ACTION:
If the PC’s get to -5 points on the aggression meter the clerk still thinks the PC’s are a little strange but is at ease wit them being in the store and leaves them to shop. If the PC’s are content with what they have found and pay for their items with silver see Ending 1a. If the players offer up a gold coin for their items the store clerk picks it off the counter and bites down on to it. Seeing that is authentic solid gold. See Ending 1
Table of Aggression
-1 PC’s walk around store with out saying anything -1 per round
-3 PC’s gather a large quantity of items
-5 PC’s make friendly small talk with Clerk. NPC can’t have a lower aggression meter unless * special condition is met.
*-10 Paying with silver coins, and leave the store. See Ending 1a
*-15 PC’s pay for their items with a gold coin. See Ending 1
+1 Speaking in any language but common in front of the clerk
+3 Getting within 1sqr of the clerk or behind the counter area
+5 Brandishing weapons, or displaying any magical powers
+10 Caught stealing, being overly aggressive towards the Clerk
+15 Attacking the Clerk, Destroying / Vandalizing the store.
Note: The NPC starts off at a 0 and is completely neutral to the strangers in the store regardless of what they look like.
NPC Encounter Endings
Ending 1:
The PC’s toss the clerk a gold coin for the items they want to purchase. The clerk bites down on to the gold piece and verifies its authenticity. Nervously the clerk exclaims “I’m rich! I quit this bitch; you guys can have what ever you like” and runs out of the store. The PC’s are shocked by his actions and watch as he runs out towards one of the metal beasts. It appears to the PC’s that a large blue metal beast grabs the Clerk with one of its arms and devours him, and they can see clerk inside the beasts as you hear it roar, and then take off into the distance. META * Punjabi runs out to his blue mini van, fires up the engine, and drives off petal to the floor*
Ending 1a:
The PC’s toss the clerk a handful of what the clerk thinks to be new silver dollars and accepts them apathetically. The clerk tells the PC’s to “have a nice day, please come again”. The PC’s leave the store and wander back into the desert.
Ending 2:
The player characters are dumb enough to start a fight inside this well needed oasis. The Clerk gets very wary of the visitors and if provoked enough will attack or flee the premise. Play this out how you see fit. If the clerk is provoked to attack with his shotgun he fires wildly at the players hitting the closest person first. If the clerk isn’t killed after he has unloaded all of his ammunition, he tries to escape. No further diplomacy can be performed at this point. If the NPC leaves the store and makes it to his Vehicle, describe this to the PC’s. It appears to the PC’s that a large blue metal beast grabs the Clerk with one of its arms and devours him, and they can see clerk inside the beasts as you hear it roar, and then take off into the distance. META * Punjabi runs out to his blue mini van, fires up the engine, and drives off petal to the floor*
Ending 2a: If you capture the Clerk, he passes out and is un revivable.
Moving On.
The players gather what they can carry, and head out back into the desert. If the players like they can rest for the night inside the store and are not bothered during the night if they lock the door. No other NPC’s will visit after the clerk has left.
